Old news, but still rather disconcerting...

[ramblin_rosie]

A 2008 Intercollegiate Studies Institute study found that elected officials generally score worse on a civic literacy exam than does the general public. (You can take the exam yourself here. I didn't think it was all that hard--got 32 of 33 right myself.)
Makes you wonder why we're voting for people who don't know how American government is supposed to work, doesn't it?

Comments

[auntmo9.livejournal.com]

On four hours sleep, I got 27 right. I should sleep more and read more slowly and I would have done better.

But that doesn't excuse our politicians. It is scarier,what people don't know.

[ramblin_rosie]

There are some that I can see being tricky, like the philosophy question. But branches of government? Definition of profit? Yikes.

[shirebound]

I'm glad to have gotten 29 right, since I've been out of school for over 35 years!

[ramblin_rosie]

Y'know, I was thinking something similar--it hasn't been that long for me, obviously, but it's still been twelve years or so since I last had a government/economics class. Funny what sticks with you!

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

32 of 33 as well. Which one did you miss?

Though this is a very conservative perspective on civic literacy; not all the questions are solely factual.

[ramblin_rosie]

True, and like I mentioned to Mo, some of the philosophy questions I can see tripping people. But some of the ones people get wrong, like what the Electoral College does, are pretty basic.

The one I missed was "which policy has been followed most often." You?

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

I know! The factual questions are good ones - important, but apparently not as well known as they should be.

I don't remember the wording; is that the one about what the government does after a recession, concerning taxes and spending?

[ramblin_rosie]

To slow a recession or stimulate growth or something like that, yeah.

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

Wow. We both missed one, and it's the same one. I think they ought to throw it out. ;)

[mumstheword54.livejournal.com]

I missed that one too! LOL!

[hoppytoad79.livejournal.com]

Definitely scary. I think passing a civics exam with 80% or better should be mandatory to even put your hat in the ring for a national election.

[ramblin_rosie]

I think that sounds wise--but you know someone somewhere would claim it's discriminatory.

[hoppytoad79.livejournal.com]

So let them prove that testing candidates for national office is discriminatory, considering who it is who runs for national office these days. I'm not talking about running for local office, or even state office. How many who run for state office aren't literate and haven't had education opportunities enough to have learned enough civics to pass with 80%+?

[ramblin_rosie]

Not disagreeing! And it's also not like you're proposing a literacy test to be able to register to vote (also a wise idea, IMO, but harder to sell when people claim requiring photo ID to be able to vote somehow constitutes a poll tax). I've just learned not to underestimate the ability of the perpetually aggrieved to throw the race card at any and every proposal they don't like, even when it makes absolutely no sense to do so.

[hoppytoad79.livejournal.com]

I'd never back literacy tests to be able to vote because that would clearly disenfranchise a disproportionate percentage of non-Whites of voting age, especially in urban areas and from lower socioeconomic classes, skewing the vote in favor of middle- to upper class Whites from the 'burbs.

I'll support efforts to require photo ID to vote when I can see data from a non-partisan third party that shows voter fraud is common and/or prevalent enough photo ID is needed. I've read some opinions on why requiring voter ID hinders certain demographics from voting that make excellent points, and I've read about voter ID laws that are on the books (or were at the time the piece was written) that definitely smack of being written with the intention of making it difficult for certain people to vote.

On a different politics-related topic, I think what America needs right now is for millions of citizens to converge on Capitol Hill and the Congressional office buildings and confront all the Congress(wo)men who have done nothing for years except sit there and put playing politics over representing their constituents and actually getting down to the business of legislating. It's clear any voice we might have when we vote isn't loud and strong enough that they care to heed it, so I think it's time we showed up in person and sat in the waiting areas of their offices and clogged the halls and generally got in their faces and demanded answers and accountability. Accountability is long, long, long overdue.

[immortal-jedi.livejournal.com]

Missed 4- the ancient greek philosophers one, the "Which policy is more often used in recessions" and two history ones. OTOH, it was a pretty easy test, and I'm 11 years out from High School government class.

Scary that people know so little about our government.

[ramblin_rosie]

That's about how far out I am from my undergrad Constitutional Government class, so I hear you. And I got the philosophy one mainly because I've studied Aquinas more than the others. But yeah, it really is scary.